Look Closer
by Thorn In Your Side
Summary: Ranmaru said, "What would you do if I said I would belong to only one woman here on?" Instead of the princess I give him to the stable boy. But Yuki will not be content to be his /girl/friend...


**Look Closer**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Wallflower/**_**Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge/**_**Perfect Girl Evolution. But seriously? I like 'The Wallflower' as a name better than the others. So sweet. **

**A/N: I used the word 'miai' in this because the English translation 'meeting' doesn't really do it justice. It's a meeting, yes, arranged by parents for their charges to interact (usually over a meal at one or the other's house—with the parents presiding) and it's got a certain connotation that 'meeting' doesn't have. It's usually a prelude to an arranged marriage; however, Sunako's aunt arranges 'meetings' for her with the intention of getting her a good boyfriend. **

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

"One woman! For Mori? Hah, what a joke."

"That gigolo settling down? He has to be kidding me. Right, Yuki?"

Takenaga glanced across the table at the little one and raised his eyebrows. Yuki was staring into the plate of food Sunako had placed in front of him, chopsticks clicking despondently. He nudged Kyohei, who also noticed the baby of the group looking morose. Ranmaru, sitting next to him, was frowning slightly.

"Hey Yuki, what's wrong?"

"Radiant being," Sunako approached, "Is the food not to your liking?"

Yuki squeaked, "It's delicious!" and began scarfing it down. After a brief silence to contemplate the wee babe's mild weirdness, the group rolled back into motion. Sunako picked up a plate loaded with fried shrimp and steamed rice to retreat to her darkness; she'd left Nightmare on Elm Street on pause with Hiroshi-kun waiting. Kyohei pointed his chopsticks at Ranmaru and said,

"Mori, get real. Is this one woman being forced on you by your parents?"

Ranmaru smiled all enigmatic like and concentrated on his food. Takenaga put his novella aside and gazed sternly at him. "Do you want us to spoil the miai again?"

"There's no miai."

Kyohei snorted. "So, what, this one woman—you chose her yourself?"

"Yes~"

Yuki choked over a mouthful of orange tea. Kyohei and Takenaga both made concerned noises; Ranmaru swept him off his feet and thumped his back. "Yuki! Yuki, are you alright?"

The androgynous sweetheart pushed away. "Um, yeah! I'm fine! Mori, why don't you tell us more about…about your new girlfriend."

Ranmaru kept him in his arms. "She's beautiful."

Yuki's hands were trapped against his exposed chest, his cheeks flushing red and his eyes aching from the pretty boy's bright aura. Was this how Sunako felt when they confronted her? No wonder then her penchant for darkness. Ranmaru swayed slightly, and Kyohei shared a significant glance with Takenaga.

"She's the most delicate flower I've ever seen and smells like a meadow in full bloom."

"Easy there," Kyohei said lightly, "Pollen allergies, you know." The brunet next to him laughed, slapping his arm. Yuki tensed in Ranmaru's grip as he continued to sing praises of his love goddess.

"She's gets frightened easily and I always want to hold her tight," he squeezed the body clinging to him, "Like this. Is that nice, Yuki?" A royal son of an enchanting grin rolled over his lips; Yuki looked away and mumbled, "Yeah…"

"And the way she looks in a dress is enough to make my heart pop. It's really lucky she only rarely does."

"Wait, wait," Takenaga interrupted, "She only rarely wears dresses? Doesn't really sound like your type…"

"At least she must be married," Kyohei reasoned, "Thirty five years old, drop-dead hottie, with her husband spending his time abroad most of the year, right?"

"Don't mock me," Ranmaru pouted, "My love is as pure as driven snow. She's a maiden as fair as Noi-chan."

Takenaga smiled dangerously. "No one is as fair as Noi-chan."

"I beg to differ," a smirk discolored his pleasant tone, "Yuki is."

Yuki said, "Her name is Yuki, too?"

Kyohei said, "A-ha!" and made a triumphant sort of gesture by throwing both arms into the air and strangling his own wrist. Takenaga stuffed a fried shrimp in the boy's big mouth and looked unnecessarily pleased with himself. Ranmaru grinned down at Yuki, who realized what the fuss was all about.

"…Mori!"  
"Yeah, Yuki…" his jubilant legato on the last vowel drained away meekly when he saw that the boy in his arms was quivering, indignant tears spilling from his eyes.

"Calling me a girl! A flower! A _**meadow**_! So _**mean**_!"

And he burst free of Ranmaru's grip to run all the way to the backyard pool, where he sulked next to the diving board.

000

"You're really more insensitive than I thought, Ranmaru…" Takenaga sighed as he patted his housemate's droopy head. Kyohei slumped on the couch and went:

"He deserved it. Mori, you know how badly Yuki hates being called cute or dressing like a woman... He wants to be cool, and you refer to him as a girl? I thought you were supposed to be _**good **_at love. None of your gigolo instincts kicked in at that moment?"

Sunako said, "You're not helping," and Kyohei told her to get the snacks she came for and go back to her lightless existence. She was pretty much happy to do that.

"What am I going to do?" pined Ranmaru, "After I finally worked up all my courage to confess to a guy I like he actually was offended by my method. You guys, this isn't a problem I've faced before—hey! Hey! Kyohei, stop laughing!"

"Hah, like I can help it! The ladies man fails so hard at pursuing the only person he hasn't pursued for money or kicks…"

Takenaga squinted. "You _**aren't**_ pursuing him for kicks are you, Ranmaru?"

The gigolo shook his head vigorously, his hands from an X. "No way! I'm serious about him!"

"Then show it," Sunako suggested, "I don't know much about love, but I think that would work."

Kyohei glowered at her. "Why do you keep coming down here?"

"My DVD is getting stuck."

"I'll come to fix it in a minute so leave us alone."

"I don't need you, creature of light."

"Don't talk to me like that."

"Is there something wrong in calling a spade a spade?"

"You can also call it that weird leaf shape."

"I don't understand."

"Go away, Sunako."

"Yes, radiant being. But don't tell me you're hungry when I forget to cook your portion of breakfast tomorrow morning."

Wincing, Kyohei followed her departure to apologize a safe distance from the gleeful ears of his best friends. Ranmaru and Takenaga exchanged exaggerated, driven round the bend looks. Romance was plagued by endless complications of delicate a nuance as the sweep of fine hair along Yuki's forehead. And the very minute that insightful observation struck them both, another followed.

"You know what you should do, Ranmaru."

"Yes."

"So do it."

"Don't I need time to prepare for this kind of thing?"

"Take all the time you need. I'd give you an hour before Yuki decides he's moving out."

"Good grief."

Takenaga put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "The best kind, my man. The best kind."

000

Yuki's neck was slowly burning up. The effeminate dear was crouching by the poolside, sniffling to himself as the sun feasted on his gorgeous flesh. It wasn't the scratching pain that made him this way; it was that Ranmaru, the first prince he'd seen, the coolest guy he knew, really didn't see him the same way. He'd liked Ranmaru for so long but it was hard enough to be a boy whom everyone thought should be a girl without going and liking another boy. He had thought it would be enough if Ranmaru could be his friend because…really, this fluttering touch in his heart was _**admiration**_ rather than…rather than something foolish…because he was a guy, and not a girl at all, so if he had to fall in love it would be with a beautiful girl like Machiko-chan, not a beautiful boy like Ranmaru…

"Yuki!"

He whirled around and nearly fell into the pool; Ranmaru caught his forearm in time to haul him upright instead. Tears sprung to his eyes again and he said,

"Mori _**why**_—"

"Yuki, I'm really very sorry!" And that's when Yuki saw that his prince, this desirable piece of ass, was in a crafty little dress of frills and thrills. "Um, I dressed up like this to let you know—to let you know that I will try to understand you better from now on. So…will you take a walk with me? Let's go to the store." Ranmaru flushed. "Let everyone see me like this, and I will never again make light of you…"

Yuki gripped his hand. "Take it off."

Ranmaru blanched. "Really, here, and we haven't even been on a date…"

"No!" Yuki yelled to cover his own embarrassment at the misunderstanding, "I mean, you don't have to do that, Ranmaru. You don't have to do that at all."

He was stared at for his troubles and felt disgruntled, insofar that Yuki ever felt disgruntled about anything, the mild tempered pet.

"What?"

"Yuki…you called me by my first name."

"Oh…"

Ranmaru took him tightly into his arms and said, "You're so cute."

Which was, of course, a mistake.

"Ranmaru…"

"Yuki!"

"You're so mean."

"I…I'm sorry."

"I guess it can't be helped." The look on Yuki's face would've broken the heart of a hungry bear. "I might as well have been born a girl. I even like guys…no one will ever acknowledge me now."

"Don't say that, Yuki."

The smaller boy turned away. "Well, it's true! Even you—wouldn't it have been easier for you if I was a girl?"

Ranmaru grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in. "I don't know. I don't care! You're a boy _**now**_ and you will be _**forever **_and I like you this way. So deal with it." He slammed his lips against Yuki's—maybe harder than required for a first kiss but he was angry, a little, and scared, a bit, and frantic to convey something deep and meaningful. And deep it got, with Yuki's tongue down his throat and their fingers gripping hips and backs, shirts and shoulders. They were huffing and puffing at each other, completely unwilling to let go even for a second for the breath of air that their lungs needed. Pfft, like they had a choice. Staring at each other as they drunk in huge gulps of air, Yuki said,

"You don't think I should be a girl? We could kiss even on the streets if I was a girl."

"Yuki," Ranmaru sighed, "I would kiss you on the streets even now. Boy or girl, the thing is, you're _**Yuki.**_ I like all the things that make you, you. It doesn't matter what other people think you should be; _**you **_want to be a boy and so I want you to be a boy. I'll deal with whatever crap we take because I'll be by your side." He smiled. "Right?"

Yuki beamed. "Right."

"And for what it counts," Ranmaru kissed him again, much sweeter and softer, "I think you're the coolest. The way you saved Kyohei and the way you stop me and Takenaga from fighting…you're definitely the coolest. You're unstoppable."

That was good enough for Yuki after all.

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

**I have a lot of sympathy for Yuki, I think because of My Barbaric Girlfriend, which has to be the most epic gender-bender manga ever. **

**I didn't do a great job of conveying the full comitragic circumstances of his existence as a bishounen but damn it, it's three thirty in the morning and that's quite enough. I really love writing at this time, after having worked through most of the night with manga and anime. Being struck by inspiration at 1 AM while looking out at the streetlight lit trees is among my favorite things in the whole world. Makes me feel like all that exists is my words and the laptop, and an empty city listening to my keyboard tap. **


End file.
